One Chance
by Evangelina
Summary: If you were given the option to save the one you love, would you take it?
1. Chapter 1

What would happen if you could have stopped a death? What if the death was of your own fiancée? What if you could go back in time and change an event so your fiancée could have lived? Would you have taken that option?  
  
"Hey, Akane. What are you doing?" Ranma said coming up behind her. She sighed, heavily and walked around the corner. "Akane." Ranma almost whined. He touched her shoulder but his hand went straight through her. Ranma stood staring at his hand, he began to shake. He was beginning to think that he was a ghost. Akane kept on walking, and then Ranma noticed that they were in the middle of the city. "Akane." He said meekly, still staring at his hand.  
Akane turned around and waved. Her lips moved but Ranma couldn't hear what she was saying. Though he thought it look a bit like 'Sister'. He didn't know what she was talking about so he turned around. He saw Kasumi walking towards Akane, and she was smiling. She held her basket full of food, which was going to be used to bake a cake that she promised to make. Since Ranma and Akane were going to finish taking their midterms tomorrow, it was a treat.  
"Kasumi!" Ranma said joyfully. Kasumi didn't seem to have heard Ranma, and he kept calling her name. Then when she reached Ranma, she didn't stop. Nor did she change her course she walked straight through him. "What the..." Ranma was staring at his body, it appeared solid but it apparently wasn't, since Kasumi was able to pass through him.  
He turned around to face Kasumi and Akane, and saw darkness surrounding them. Kasumi and Akane talked merrily, while Ranma screamed at them about the on coming darkness. Kasumi and Akane were swallowed by the darkness, along with the surroundings. Paralyzed with fear, Ranma stood and watched his world get devoured by darkness.  
Then he found himself in the park, with his father, Soun, Akane, Nabiki, and Kasumi. They were all laughing, Ranma was too. He heard someone running, and no one else seemed to have heard. He heard a cock of a gun, and saw a man running decked out all in black. He even had a black ski mask and some black visors on. He was screaming and Ranma couldn't hear what he was saying. He stopped in the middle of the park, and began to fire a handgun. He was shooting it everywhere, first in the air, and then at people. Ranma jumped in the air and dodged a bullet, but Akane...Akane wasn't looking. She was too busy getting Kasumi out of the way that the bullet whizzed straight into the side of Akane's head. Ranma screamed from his position in the air. He saw Akane's body slacken, and fall to the ground. Kasumi was covered in her younger sister's blood, and she was crying. Ranma saw a shadowed figure walk up to him, and tried to comfort him.  
"I'll be coming soon." The figure said, and Ranma found himself next to Akane...crying.  
Then Ranma awoke. He sat upright in his bed, hyperventilating. What was that all about? Ranma thought before going back to sleep. 


	2. Chapter 2

Ranma and Akane were walking to school, when Ranma heard thunderclouds. "Uh- oh." He looked up into the sky and saw the dark gray clouds beginning to form. The rain came down faster than he thought it would. Both he and Akane started running to the school. They reached the school grounds five minutes before the bell would ring. "I'm going to get some hot water, Akane." Ranma, who was now a girl, said.  
"Uh." She turned to the female version of Ranma and stared. "Oh, ok. I might as go with you. I need to dry up." Three minutes later they were walking into the classroom. A cluster of girls was whispering around the door, which made it difficult for them to get in.  
One girl whispered, moving the cluster away from the door.  
"Yeah. It's kinda strange...I mean there's been Ranma, and Ukyo already. I think there's a big sign somewhere saying 'Furinkan High, Open for Transfer Students...Come One Come All!" Another whispered.  
"Wonder what they're talking about Ranma." Akane said. "I haven't heard about a new student."  
"Well...you are a stupid, slow tomboy." Ranma replied. Akane lifted her schoolbag and tried to smack Ranma across the head with it. "Missed me." Akane tried again, and kept missing until the teacher came in.  
"Settle down, everyone. Sit down." He said. "Now before I go on announcing things, I want you guys to meet a new student. She came all the way from America." He gestured towards the door. "You can come in now." A silhouetted figure stood in the doorway. Slowly the door opened, and the girl kept her head down. "Please come up here." She walked over to where the teacher stood and stood next to him. "Why don't you tell a little about yourself."  
The girl lifted her head up Ranma wasn't looking until now. He had a weird sense that he had met her before. Her hair was black with some red dyed at the bottom, and went a little bit past her shoulders. She looked pale, as if she was died. Her eyes were black too; she had run crimson lipstick over her lips, and wore crimson eye shadow. She wore loose baggy, black cargo pants, a pair of combat boots, a black shirt, and a long black leather jacket. "My name's Selene Evangelina Ira." She was playing with the strap of her black side pack, and looked at every student in the room. "I'm from America, and I have no clue whether or not this is coming out right." She tilted her head and lifted her shoulders and smiled.  
"Well, Selene why don't we find a seat for you." The teacher said. "Well I guess you'll have to sit next to Ranma. Seeing that's the only free desk." He gestured towards the empty chair in the back of the room next to the window. "Ranma, way don't you show her around school during break." His comment seemed more like a statement rather than a question.  
"Yes sir." Ranma replied in a bored tone. 


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey." Selene said to Ranma during their break.  
"Hey." Ranma replied, getting up and taking her to the door. He showed her around the school and was now showing her the school grounds.  
"I've got a question for you." Selene asked.  
"What?" Ranma said.  
"Have you ever had the feeling that you've met someone before and you yourself know that you've never met the person?" She said.  
"Yeah. I have. I kinda thought that I met you before when you introduced yourself to the class." Ranma said a bit embarrassed to say that.  
"RANMA!" A voice yelled. "How dare you court another girl, and leave Akane Tendo alone?!?!"  
"That's Kuno." Ranma said shaking his head.  
"It's Upperclassman Kuno to you, Ranma Saotome." Kuno said. "And who is this lovely enchantment before my eyes." Kuno took Selene's hand and tried to kiss it. Though he found that he was kissing his own hand, and his chin met Selene's foot.  
"Don't ever touch me, Kuno." Selene said shaking her head. "Is he always like this?" She whispered to Ranma.  
"Around some girls yes...round others he is a nutcase." Ranma rolled his eyes. "Why don't we just walk away, while he's still unconscious." Then Kuno jumped up and took Selene's hand again.  
"I said..." Her fist was raised, and she was about to punch Kuno. "NEVER TOUCH ME AGAIN!" She swung a strong, swift, uppercut to Kuno's chin, which sent his chin higher into his face, and he went soaring into the sky. Sighing, Selene seemed content.  
"When did you learn to do that?" Ranma asked. "I only know one girl who can send someone's chin into their mouth, and that girl's a macho chic." Luckily Akane was with her friends inside the building on the other end of the school. Selene shrugged. "So..." Ranma's hands were in his pocket. "Where are you staying in Japan?"  
"I dunno...I'm supposed to ask my father's old friend if I could stay with them." Selene said shrugging it off.  
"What's his name?"  
"Something like Soun Tendo." Selene was changing her expression for one of confusion and joking.  
"I know him. My father and I are actually staying with them." Ranma said his expression seemed to have brightened. "Say...do you know how to fight?"  
"Yeah. My father taught me when I was young." Selene stated. "He also had this nutty idea of teaching me cat-fu." Selene noticed that Ranma's expression was one of shock. "Luckily though I told him to read the manual first before he taught me. He did and taught me without using the psyche damaging techniques."  
"Lucky." Ranma said with his face turned away.  
"Why?" Selene asked, completely confused.  
"My old man damaged my psyche." Ranma said a bit bitterly. "He threw me into a pit full of hungry cats all tied up with Japanese fish cakes." Selene laughed, and Ranma found that her laughter was pleasant to hear and was contagious.  
"My father almost tried that on me." Selene said as though she were about to tell a story. "I told him...read the manual I still want to have my sanity." She was wagging her finger in the air as if she were scolding someone. "I won that one. Though I guess..."  
"Guess what?" Ranma was looking at her.  
"That you have a fear of cats." She was smiling and was laughing.  
"Yeah...and I kinda know cat-fu when my fear goes overboard." Ranma admitted. "It's useful sometimes, though I don't know what I do when I have it."  
"Oh." Selene looked solemn. "Oh, well. At least when you do something embarrassing you won't remember what you did." She was tilting her head to him and was smiling. "So, why don't we finish the tour of this school before the bell rings and we have to go back to the retched classroom." 


	4. Chapter 4

The teacher was giving the final instructions of the day when the bell rang. The teacher called homework over everybody's movements and voices. Selene was slowly getting up from her seat when Ranma knocked on her desk. She jumped almost imperceptible, and turned to face Ranma.  
"Why don't Akane and I take you over to ask Mr. Tendo?" He offered her, but Selene declined. "Why? I mean you're going to end up there anyway, we might as well escort you there."  
"I've got a few things I have to do first." Selene said looking down; she felt someone's icy glare on her back. "I'll meet up with you and Akane later ok?" She tried to smile but Ranma saw how tense it was.  
"Look, if you need anyone to talk to..." Ranma was feeling self conscious about offering, "My office is always open. Free of charge." Selene smiled, and thanked him.  
"Can you do me a favor?" Selene asked.  
"Sure. What is it?" Ranma replied, happy he could do something for his friend.  
"Don't tell the Tendos about my moving in with them, well hopeful move in." Selene pleaded. "I don't want them to know yet, so don't tell them especially Akane. Please, promise me."  
"Yeah, sure." Ranma held up his hand. "I swear on my life and soul." Then Selene left. 


	5. Chapter 5

Selene was walking along the main roads of the city. She had her side pack on and had purposefully avoided the Tendo resident. 'Father told me to find them and ask to stay.' she thought. Her father had told her that he and Soun were old friends and that he owned him many favors; and that if Soun could take in his daughter and train her than all his debts would be fulfilled. Though Selene couldn't bring herself to be an extra hassle in the house.  
The sun was setting slowly and Selene was still walking. Selene's mind wondered back to when her father was telling her about the Tendos.  
  
"Selene, I want you to go live with the Tendos." Her father's voice was weak, sad, and kind. "I have a letter written telling them about the situation." Slowly, his hands were shaking with the letter in his hands. Selene took the letter from her father to save him the rest of his strength.  
"Father but..." Selene said, but her father indicated that he had more to say.  
"My darling daughter, I do not wish to leave you yet." He coughed. "But, it seems as though I have no choose. Death is coming for me, but I don't want to leave without knowing that you're happy." Selene's eyes watered. "Please do not cry for me. I will always be watching over you." He smiled weakly but it was enough for Selene. "I want you to go to Japan, finish your training, and live the life in which you have always wanted." His hands were shaking as he reached to touch his daughter's face one last time. Selene took his hand and placed it against her cheek.  
"Father..." Her voice began to crack. Her father lifted a finger to tell her to savor this moment.  
"Remember everything we have done, and what I have told you." Her father said with the last ounce of his strength. Her father drew his last breath, and for the first time in Selene's life she cried. She cried her heart out that night, she stayed with her father's died body and cried.  
  
Now her hands gripped the note that her father had written. She never opened it herself and the only person who knows what it said was her died father. She obviously knew what was inside, but she just never opened it. She noticed that the sun had set and was now walking by the light of the street lamps. Sighing she set out to find a pay phone.  
After walking for a while she found one in front of a cosmetic store. She had the door shut behind her and was flipping through the phone book. "Tendo...Tendo." She skimmed through her page, and found three listings of Tendo. Unfortunately, there were two people with the same Soun Tendo. She punched in the first number; it rang two times before someone answered.  
"Hello?" A female voice asked.  
"Hi. I'm wondering is Ranma Saotome home?" Selene asked, trying to sound as polite as possible.  
"I don't know anyone by that name, sorry." The voice replied. "I think you have the wrong miss."  
"Oh, ok." Then Selene hung up, and tried the second number.  
"Hello?" Another female voice answered.  
"Hi. I'm wondering is Ranma Saotome home?" Selene asked, she wondering whether or not you could become a robot by repeating the same lines again and again.  
"Yes, hold on one second." The voice said. "Ranma, you've got a phone call!" The voice hollered. A thumping sound resonated from the other end before another voice was on the line.  
"Yo, Ranma here." He said.  
"Ranma, it's me Selene." She said softly. "Is everyone there?"  
"Where have..." Ranma practically yelled.  
"Keep it down! I don't want them to start thinking...well I don't want them to think about this situation." She said. "Did you tell anyone about me?"  
"No, not yet anyway." Ranma whispered. "Why?"  
"No, nothing. I'm just coming over that's all." Selene replied and knew what Ranma's next was. "I'm at a pay phone in town."  
"How did you know what question I was going to ask?" Ranma asked puzzled.  
"I'll tell you later, can you just stand outside the Tendo residence in about five minutes?" Selene asked looking at her watch.  
"Five minutes see ya." Then Ranma hung up. Selene quickly looked down at the address next to the name and began walking to the Tendo residence. 


	6. Chapter 6

Selene was walking down the street in which the Tendo's lived, and she was three minutes late. She hoped that Ranma would wait a little bit longer considering how she was practically on the other side of town. Reaching the top of the hill she saw a figure standing by a door. The figure was waving at her and she was walking a little bit faster. The figure turned out to be Ranma and he was smiling. She smiled back and waved. He asked her if she had any things that she needed.  
"Not that I need right now. I can get my stuff tomorrow." Selene replied. "Do you think I could come inside?" She pointed to the open door.  
"Yeah, come in. I'll tell Soun about you." Ranma guided her inside, and told her to go into the living room (which he told her how to get to). The family was eating dinner and Selene found Ranma seated next to a girl wearing a pink dress on top of a white shirt, which she knew was Akane, and a giant panda. Everyone but Ranma and a giant panda stopped eating.  
"Hi." Selene said meekly. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I'm looking for Soun Tendo." Selene saw that the panda and Ranma were pointing to a man, well into his forties. He had black hair down a little bit past his shoulders; he was wearing a faded black male kimono.  
He cleared his throat and said, "I am Soun Tendo, and you are?"  
"I'm Selene Evangelina Ira. I'm the daughter of Ajax Ira." Selene saw Soun's face light up and his eyes were shining.  
"Eva...is that you?" Soun asked.  
"Eva is a nickname right?" Selene was questioning him. Soun nodded his head. "Yeah, then I am." She reached into her pocket and pulled out the envelope that her father wrote. "My father said to give this to you...but when you're done with it can I have it back?" She handed the note to Soun. "It's one of the only things I have from him." Her face was down, and they heard the note of sorrow in her voice. Soun was flipping open the envelope and letter and skimmed through it, mumbling the words as he read.  
"So, your father is using all of my debts for this favor." Soun said.  
"Actually it's two favors." Selene said. "One is if you could take me in, and the other is if you could finish my training that my father started." She pointed down at the bottom of the letter. "Father said it aloud as he wrote, in case his writing didn't look legible."  
"Oh...Ok." Soun said his hand was on his chin. "Let me talk it over with everyone else." Selene nodded her head and walked outside. She took a deep breath and jumped into the air. She landed on the roof of the house and she sat there breathing trying to figure out what they were going to do. Selene stopped herself from actually thinking about what was happening, so instead she thought about her past. 


	7. Chapter 7

"Father, I think we should allow Slen. Stay with us." Kasumi said.  
"It's Selene." Ranma corrected.  
"Oh." Kasumi looked a bit embarrassed. "Well, I still think Selene should stay with us." Kasumi was looking at Soun with pleading eyes. "You do owe her father."  
"Yeah. I mean if Selene were your daughter and you had asked a friend, who did have a lot of debts, to take her in wouldn't you expect the person to do it?" Akane asked.  
"Well, I would but..." Soun said looking off into space.  
"BUT WHAT!?!?!" Akane screamed. Soun had magically transported himself to the other side of the room and into a corner...he was crying. Muttering how Akane had just yelled at him. "Oh, quit blubbering you cry baby."  
"Well, dad." Nabiki said holding up her hands in defeat. Kasumi was with her father, soothing him. "I think you have only one choice. And that's to allow Selene to live with us."  
"Ok, fine." Soun said he had apparently calmed down. "Why don't someone go and find her." A silence fell, and no one moved an inch.  
"Oh, I'll go find her." Ranma immediately stood and was walking out of the door. "She couldn't have gone far." He was walking along the outside of the main living area. Before he walked down and jumped into the air. He saw her back; she was sitting directly over the bedrooms. Her head was looking at the moon, and he thought he heard her muttering something. "Hey, Selene." He said softly, as he sat down next to her. "They've got their decision." His hand was on her shoulder, in a kind and reassuring way. "Come on." Slowly Selene got up. She followed Ranma across the roof, and when they reached the living room area they jumped down.  
"Hello." Soun said slowly. "We have made our decision." Selene began to laugh, mostly to herself, but Soun heard her. "What's so funny?"  
"All of this. You make it sound as if I was awaiting a death sentence." Selene said she was still half laughing.  
"Ya know...she is kind of right." Ranma said over laughs.  
"Well," Soun cleared his throat. "You are more than welcome to stay with us, Selene." Selene was smiling, and saying thanks to them.  
"I never meant to be such a hassle for you guys, it was my father." Selene confessed. "He told me that you guys were to only the Tendos and the Saotomes were the only people that I could go to. Though I don't know why, that's what he said." Selene tried to smile, but it turned out to be one of great sorrow.  
Kasumi seemed to have noticed and said, "Why don't I go show you to your room?" The girl sitting next to Soun stood up. Selene saw an apron tied around her, a yellow shirt, a pink skirt, and her brown hair was in a ponytail that she styled so it went over her shoulder. "Do you have an luggage that you need tonight?" She asked kindly.  
"No, I'm fine." Selene followed the girl down the hall. She pasted a door with a sign saying Akane, before the girl in front of her stopped.  
"I'm sorry. I didn't know anyone was coming so the room might be a little dusty, but it's the only room right now." The girl said. "I'm Kasumi by the way." She held out her hand and Selene took it and shook. "The girl with the short brown hair is Nabiki, and the one with short blue hair is Akane, my youngest sister." Kasumi explained. "You'll be going to school with those two and Ranma. You already know him so I won't have to explain."  
"Can you tell me where I can shower?" Selene asked as Kasumi began walking down the hall. Kasumi kindly told Selene and Selene walked into her room. It was completely furnished and was spotless; Selene thought that it was their guest room. 'I'll have to ask them if I can install a bunch of electronics.' She thought examining the room. She threw her bag on the bed and pulled out some clothes from inside. A pair of black, baggy, silk pants and a black shirt that went to the elbow and flared out, along with some undergarments. She walked to where Kasumi had told her the bathroom would be, she walked through the first door and saw that someone was in there. She walked back out and waited until the person got out.  
She sat down by the door outside and leaned her head against the wall. She breathed deeply and lifted her right hand. She examined it, and then started making hand gestures. Pretty soon a ball of sparkling energy formed and Selene began to play with it. She placed it in the air between her hands and made it grow in size when she expanded the distance between her hands. It changed designs when her hands changed positions and shrank when she reduced the distance of her hands.  
Ranma was standing next to her, he hand just come out of the shower and stood mesmerized by what Selene was doing. Then he saw her throw her hands in the air, and it sent the ball of energy into the air. A few seconds later it exploded into a glittering curtain of energy. Ranma's hands began to clap and made Selene jump. She stood there staring at Ranma; she didn't know that he was there when she played with the energy ball. "How did you do that?"  
"Do what?" Selene asked looking everywhere but at Ranma.  
"The thing with the ball of glitter." Ranma told her.  
"It was a ball of energy or ki however you call it." Selene said. "How long where you standing there?" She asked trying to change the subject.  
"Long enough to know you're not a normal person." Ranma said.  
"Look can you not tell anyone?" Selene asked. "And can you move? I kinda want to take a shower." Ranma stepped aside, allowing Selene to go bathe. 


	8. Chapter 8

"Ranma, can you go and get Selene?" Kasumi asked. "She should be in the last room down the hall." Kasumi and Ranma were on the stairs and Ranma went dashing up.  
Ranma reached the door at the end of the hall and knocked. "Selene?" He knocked again, and got a reply.  
"Door's open." Selene's voice was muffled. Slowly Ranma twisted the doorknob and saw Selene sitting a few inches off the ground. Ranma stood there; her eyes were closed and seemed to have forgotten that she had just told someone that the door was open. Selene levitated a bit higher and then hit the ceiling. "Ow!" Her hand went to rub the top of her head while she slowly descended.  
"How'd you do you that?" Ranma asked from the doorway. Selene's mouth was open but didn't say anything. "I'm serious. First the ki ball and now levitating. How can you do this?" Ranma was walking further into the room.  
"I guess I might as well tell you." Selene said sighing. "I have powers." She saw Ranma's confused look, and explained. "Every since I can remember I've always had some kind of 'magical', so to say, power. I know that when I was about six months old I could move objects with my mind. I couldn't move it as far as I can now since my mental capability was 'smaller' than now." Ranma's bewildering look, made Selene roll her eyes towards the sky and told him to look at the chair in the corner of the room. Slowly the chair ascended from the ground, and was hovering towards the door. The door was slightly ajar and the chair pushed it open enough so it could get out. Ranma stood up with it, Selene too. They walked into the hallway following the gliding chair. It stopped halfway down the hall when they heard footsteps. The chair went zooming back into Selene's room and the door was shut again.  
A blue head of hair was walking up the stairs. Selene and Ranma stood in the middle of the hall, staring back at Selene's room. "Hey, you guys. I don't think either of you two had finished or started dinner." Akane said. "Ranma, I thought I heard Kasumi asking you to bring Selene down. You've been up here for five minutes, and now it's," She looked at the watch on her left hand. "It's 7 o'clock, right now."  
"Uh..." Ranma said, looking at Selene.  
"Well, I kind of asked him to wait since I doubted that I could have found my way to the living room. I just came out of the shower." She held up a bundle of clothes that seemed to have appeared in her hands when Akane came up. Ranma noticed that Selene's hair was wet and dripping. "Just give me a second while I put my clothes away." Selene retreated into her room quickly.  
"Ranma." Akane was walking closer to him. Ranma was backing away trying to gain some distance from her, and hit the wall backing up. "I'm not trying to kill you. I was wondering if you saw a chair floating in the middle of the hallway a second ago." Ranma shook his head no quickly. "Oh." Akane said, and they saw Selene walk out of her room.  
Akane looked at Selene for a moment and then walked away. "What was that about?" Selene was walking towards Ranma.  
"I dunno. Let's go get something to eat." Ranma was guiding her downstairs and saw that the entire family was downstairs eating still. It was only a little after 7 and they had started eating around 6:45. An extra plate and chopstick was set up to where Selene saw Ranma sitting earlier. Ranma walked back to wear he was eating originally and resumed with stuffing his mouth.  
"Please sit down." Kasumi said she was smiling. Selene took the only open seat, next to Ranma. Selene was aware of everyone looking at her. She didn't bother to look at them; she just lifted up the chopsticks and ate. Selene barely ate anything before she said, "That was great. My compliments to the chef." She set down her chopsticks. "Where can I put this? I'm done."  
"You can just leave it on the table, I'll pick it up later." Kasumi said.  
"No really, I don't want to be a hassle. Just, please, tell me where I can put this. I don't want to be this person whom everyone has to clean up afterwards."  
"Well, ok." Kasumi said and told her where the kitchen was how to get there. She told Selene to leave it in the sink. Selene got up and left. "I think there might be something wrong with her. I don't think she ate today and she barely ate dinner." Ranma added that she didn't eat lunch since she was with him touring around the school.  
After dinner people went back to doing what they normally did. Kasumi was organizing a few things, Nabiki was using her abacus, Akane was lifting weights in the living room, and the panda was sitting around nodding to what Soun was saying. Ranma however, was wondering where Selene went off to after she left to put her plate away. Kasumi said that she might have gone up to her room, and somehow Ranma highly doubted that. Ranma walked outside and jumped onto the roof. He saw that Selene was where she was earlier that evening. Sitting on the roof, above the bedroom area.  
Ranma crept up to Selene and sat down. "Hey." Selene turned her head, and he saw the sorrow in her eyes. "What's up?" He was deliberately trying to avoid talking about the pain and sorrow that he saw within those eyes of hers. Selene shrugged her shoulders and returned to gazing at nothing. "So...Selene what other magical powers do you have?"  
"Do you really want to know?" Selene asked, turning to face Ranma. He nodded his head yes, and Selene breathed out. "You know I can move objects with my mind, I can create fire out of nothing." She held out her open hand, flicked it, and a small fire appeared in the palm of her hand. It slowly went out, and no mark was left behind. "I can read people's thoughts." Selene saw Ranma expression, and said, "I don't do it without people knowing. That's unless I have a random power burst. You mind?" Ranma shook his head. Selene concentrated on Ranma and he was able to see her pupils dilate in the moonlight. Ranma's scalp felt as though millions of ants were marching across it, and digging through his skin. Slowly searching his mind for the place in which he thought.  
"Wow." Ranma said as Selene returned to normal. She shut her eyes and shrugged. "Any others?"  
"I can travel through time." Selene said smiling. Ranma's mouth dropped open. Selene took Ranma's hand and told him to hold on. "We're going back to the time in which we had dinner."  
Ranma saw her pupils dilate again, and felt a sudden rush of cold air. Ranma could see that they were inside a white area. There was an enormous old grandfather clock in front of them. Selene jumped up to the top of the clock, where the hands moved. She walked off to the side of the clock, and pulled something open. He saw her punching in something on a keyboard that fell out, when she opened a panel. She looked up at the clock and the hands moved backwards to 7:03. Selene seemed satisfied, and jumped down to where Ranma stood. The glass door that contained the pendulum slowly opened. Selene took Ranma's hand and began running. They both jumped into the darkness of the chamber. They fell, slowly. Ranma seemed to have landed two feet away from Selene and on his butt. Selene on the other hand landed squarely on both her feet. "I told you to hold on." She whispered, lowering herself to where he sat.  
"It's not my fault." He whispered back. "Where are we?"  
"In front of the Tendo residence." She said examining where they had landed. "Come on." They walked inside, and slowly crept to the living room area. They had entered and didn't bother taking off their shoes, well Ranma didn't, and Selene was wearing socks at the time. "Shh." She slowly opened the door, a fraction. They saw everyone eating, and there sat Ranma and Selene.  
"That was great. My compliments to the chef." Selene set down her chopsticks. "Where can I put this? I'm done." The future Selene could hear Ranma take in breath, as if he were trying to breath. She pulled Ranma down and held a finger up to her mouth, telling him to be quiet. She motioned Ranma to follow her as the past Selene walked off into the kitchen.  
"I don't believe this." Ranma said, still thinking about seeing himself in the living room, eating.  
"I know, not many people do." Selene replied walking outside. "Come on, we have to get back to our time." She heard Ranma make a grunt of confusion. "I think you've seen enough, already." Selene then took Ranma's hand and he found that he was back in the white area with the enormous grandfather clock. Selene did the same as before, but this time the clock was set to the time in which Selene and Ranma first arrived. The door then opened and Ranma and Selene found themselves on the roof. "Now, do you want to know the rest of my power of not?"  
"Uhh...about bout a few more." Ranma said in disbelief.  
"Ok." Selene jumped down and Ranma followed. "I can give and take life." Ranma's eyes widen in even more disbelief. "See that tree over there?" Ranma nodded. It was a young, healthily tree with leaves all over. Selene walked over to it, and touched on the bark of the tree. In an instance the tree began to shrivel and die. "Now, watch closely." Selene laid her hand flat out against the dead tree, and the tree grew and bloomed into what it originally was. "I get premonitions too. Though that one is kinda hard to show. Oh," Selene said, she smiled at her thought. "Though, I can transform."  
"Transform." Ranma said, he thought he had wax stuck in his ears.  
"Yeah, transform. Watch." Selene shook her head; she let out air and closed her eyes. Ranma saw Selene transform from a girl with pale skin, and wet hair into Akane, and back again. "Here's another one." She closed her eyes again, and her skin seemed to illuminate. Her head changed from human into a burning bird's head. Her body shifted too, her arms became wings of fire, her legs burning bird feet, and her torso became the flamed portion of a bird's. Selene began to flap her wings and spurts of fire hit the ground.  
"Wow." Ranma said mesmerized. "You transformed into a phoenix." Ranma stood staring at the magnificent phoenix before him, and then saw the phoenix slowly shift back into Selene. "Wow." Selene smiled broadly.  
"That's my favorite to turn into." Selene laughed and stomped out a little fire she caused. "I can do a lot more, but I'm tired. I'm going to bed. But, if you want I can show you more tomorrow. Night." Selene walked back into the house, and left Ranma staring at her with wide eyes. 


	9. Chapter 9

Ranma was standing in the dark. A small light was coming from somewhere faraway. He ran he ran as fast as he could and met up with the light. "Selene." He saw the phoenix that Selene transformed into earlier. The phoenix nodded its head, and somehow Ranma knew she was smiling. "I will always help you when you ask or are in danger Ranma. I will also help those you know and love." Selene told Ranma without moving her beak. "Remember that. Just call me name aloud, and I shall come." The phoenix disappeared and left him in the dark.  
Then he found himself in the park, with his father, Soun, Akane, Nabiki, and Kasumi. They were all laughing, Ranma was too. He heard someone running, and no one else seemed to have heard. He heard a cock of a gun, and saw a man running decked out all in black. He even had a black ski mask and some black visors on. He was screaming and Ranma couldn't hear what he was saying. He stopped in the middle of the park, and began to fire a handgun. He was shooting it everywhere, first in the air, and then at people. Ranma jumped in the air and dodged a bullet, but Akane...Akane wasn't looking. A bullet came whizzing through the air, and Ranma screamed a name. "SELENE!"  
Ranma saw that there was a shadow, in the shape of a human. The shadow seemed to have defined itself and soon turned into Selene. But, the minute Selene's body materialized, the bullet shot straight through her stomach. She slowly brought up her right hand to the wound and her fingertips were smeared in her on blood. Selene lifted her gaze from her bullet wound to the man with the gun. Ranma could see Selene sway back and forth as she walked over to the man. The man in black seemed to have froze in his spot. His gun was shaking and his grip loosened around it. Selene raised her right hand, and it burst into flames.  
Ranma was on the ground when Selene raised her hand, and he tried to run after Selene. But, he felt hands on his shoulder pulling him away. He saw that Genma, Soun, and Akane were holding him back. "LET GO! I HAVE TO HELP HER! LET GO!" Ranma tried to wriggle his way free, but their grips just seemed to have tightened. "LET GO!" Selene's head turned to where the yells where coming from, and the man raised his gun again. "SELENE, WATCH OUT!" Ranma screamed at the top of his lungs. Selene's hand was down, but still burning and the gun fired. Three more bullets went into her stomach, and a fourth went into her heart.  
Selene barely heard Ranma's anguished cries. With her last ounce of strength she drove her burning right hand into the man's heart. When Selene pulled her hand out, she collapsed to the ground, and said, "Ranma, wake up".  
Ranma awoke with a jolt. He was breathing heavily, and he was sweating profusely. 'What...' Ranma's heart slowed back down to something normal and dozes off into a dreamless sleep.  
Selene at the time was sharing the same dream as Ranma. Except, she could feel the bullets enter her body, and something told her that it was a premonition and that Ranma had shared it too. She looked down the see whether the wounds had crossed over from the dream world and was happy to see that they hadn't. Slowly she fell back to sleep, and like Ranma it was dreamless. 


	10. Chapter 10

"Hey Selene." Akane, Ranma, Nabiki, and Kasumi said at once. Kasumi placed a bowl of food in front of where Selene had sat yesterday.  
"Oh, sorry Kasumi. I don't eat breakfast, sorry for all the trouble." Selene responded looking down at her plate. She pulled her side pack next to her, and flipped through everything. Finally she pulled out a piece of paper from the bottom of the pack. She pushed her breakfast forward and flattened out the crumpled piece of paper. Ranma looked over his bowl, and tried to read what was written down on the paper.  
"What does that say?" Ranma asked, setting down his bowl.  
"It's in English. It's telling me where my dad had transported our stuff." Selene replied, trying to decode her father's handwriting. "You guys, I'm going to be late coming home this afternoon. I'm going to get my things, it shouldn't take all afternoon."  
"Kasumi. We're leaving!" Akane said looking at the clock. "Ranma, Selene let's go. I don't want to be late."  
  
They heard a bell toll in the distance. Selene looked at her watch it was 8:30. "WE'RE LATE!" Akane started running and Ranma jumped down from the fence in which he was walking on.  
"Can you turn back time about five minutes?" Ranma whispered to Selene. Selene gave him a look that said, "What are you talking about?!?!" Ranma clamped his hands together and begged. "PLEASE???"  
"Fine." Selene said finally giving in. "Get Akane."  
"YOU GUYS, HURRY UP! WE'RE LATE!" Akane screamed.  
"AKANE! Come back here." Ranma was waving her over, and Akane came back.  
"WHAT?!?! WE'RE LATE AND YOU'RE TELLING ME TO COME BACK?!?!" Akane was yelling now.  
"Do you thing." Ranma said. Selene nodded her head. She clasped onto Ranma and Akane's hand and they saw her pupil's dilate. Akane shut her eyes against the cold wind that was suddenly blowing towards them. Ranma stared at Selene, loving the way that she could change and travel through time. A few seconds later, Ranma, Akane, and Selene were standing in the middle of the street. Selene looked at her watch and smiled, the time was now 8:25. "Come on." Ranma started running towards the school, and Selene and Akane followed.  
They reached the school with three minutes to spare. A *rather* large group of guys were standing outside the entrance of the school. Selene thought she heard her name being said amidst the conversation they were having. But she dismissed it, until they turned at looked at her pointing. A guy with a blue kendo uniform came walking out, Selene knew instantly that it was Kuno. "Come on, let's go the other way." Selene was pushing Ranma and Akane towards the baseball fields before Kuno stood in front of them.  
"You, dead girl." Kuno said pointing at Selene.  
"I have a name, you loser." Selene said. "Though it's nice to know that people actually think that I'm dead. Do you think I'm a vampire too?"  
Kuno looked taken back a little but he talked. "I challenge you. If you can defeat me, I shall permit you to date with me."  
"Ew!" Selene said imitating the stereotype cheerleaders. "Whoever said that I wanted a date with you?" She shook her head and tried to side step Kuno. Kuno slid his boken up Selene's throat. "Move." Kuno stood there.  
"Defeat me and I shall move." Kuno stated, he had a smug look on his face.  
"With pleasure." Selene said. She dropped to the ground and swept his feet off the ground. He landed on his back with a loud satisfying thud. Selene stood up, and kicked his side multiple times. Ranma eventually came in when Kuno's side began to visibly swell.  
"I think that's enough." Ranma whispered into her ear. Ranma was dragging Selene away from Kuno's swollen side.  
"He deserved it, and a whole lot more." Selene said.  
"I know he does, trust me." Ranma was thinking about the times when he was a girl and had accidentally met up with Kuno. "Let's get inside or we're going to be late." 


	11. Chapter 11

That afternoon, Ranma walked up to Selene right before they left the school grounds. "Mind if I go with you to get your things?"  
"Suit yourself. I don't care." Selene walked off the other way from Akane, and Ranma stood in the middle of the school entrance.  
"Akane, I'm going to help Selene. Meet you up at the house." With that he ran off before he could hear Selene's reply. "Selene, wait up!" Selene slowed down her pace. "So..." Ranma said as he caught up with her. "What other powers do you have?"  
"I can travel as a shadow." Selene said. Ranma's mind scrambled to what he saw in his dream last night. "Though, by the way you're acting I bet you had a dream last night. That involved my coming in via shadows." Ranma nodded. "Oh, well. Take my hand." Ranma obediently followed. He found himself, melding in with Selene...becoming pitch black. He felt as though he was dispersed and yet formed together. Together they soared along the road, the trees, through the shadows, and walls. Selene slowed down, and slowly allowed them to form together.  
"WOW." Ranma said. "That...that was awesome!"  
"Yeah, whatever." Selene was peering into the dusty windows of the building in which they appeared in front of. It was a small, abandoned home, which looked at though a dwarf could have lived in. "Come on." Selene was motioning him into the house through the door. Ranma followed Selene throw the door, and saw a dusty cover in the corner away from the door. Selene walked towards it and pulled off the cover. Underneath it was a beautiful, new, black, slick, motorcycle, and two suitcases. She pulled the motorcycle out through the door and told Ranma to take the two suitcases. Outside with the motorcycle, and suitcases Ranma stares at the sky. It has slowly begun the turn gray, and Ranma hoped *badly* that it wouldn't rain. "Lemme see the suitcases." Ranma saw her make a few hand gestures over the suitcases before he saw the suitcases shrink. Ranma blinked a few times at them, before he noticed that Selene was walking back into the building. She came out with three boxes, and they were all reduced to the size of a magazine. She opened a compartment of the motorcycle and drew out two helmets. "Put it on." She placed the five items into the compartment and placed her helmet on.  
"Can you drive this thing?" Ranma asked in a muffled voice. Selene pulled out a key from her jacket pocket, and started the engine.  
"If you don't trust me, than you can walk home." Selene called over the sound of the engine. Ranma only sat on the back of the motorcycle, and clung to Selene. She slapped down her visor and drove. Ranma clung on to her tighter when she sped up, and when she decided to do a pop a wheelie. A few moments later they arrived in front of the Tendo residence.  
Ranma took off his helmet and cried, "That was great! Let's go again!" Selene shook her head, and brought out the five items from the compartment, placing the helmets inside. Quickly Selene made a few hand gestures and the luggage and boxes returned to their original sizes.  
"Hello!" Kasumi said, wiping her wet hands on her apron. "Where have you two been?" Kasumi asked before she noticed the luggage at her feet. "Never mind."  
"Ranma mind if you help me?" Selene asked, and Ranma immediately dropped to pick up the two suitcases. Selene lifted the three boxes and walked inside after Kasumi. She dropped the boxes inside the house and went outside to place her motorcycle away. When she walked back into the house she saw that Soun was trying to open the boxes. "Mr. Tendo do you mind if I set up a bunch of electronics up in my room?" Soun nodded his head yes, and stepped out of the way so Selene could carry the boxes upstairs. 


	12. Chapter 12

That evening when Akane was sent to get Selene down for dinner, Akane found it difficult to open the door. "Selene, dinner's done." Akane said through the door, and she heard a few clattering of metal. The door opened and Akane saw that the inside of the room was cluttered with electronics. Literally, there were keyboards on the floor, chips, motherboards, CPUs, and other things that Akane didn't know were called. "Ummm...dinner's done and we're waiting for you to eat."  
"Yeah, why don't you guys start without me. I'm almost done with this thing." Selene said trying to shut the door, and ended up pushing Akane's foot out of the doorway. On the other end of the door, Selene was putting together her computer. It was a black one, with a black mouse, and keyboard.  
  
A few moments later, Selene had her computer set up and running complete with DSL. 'Now, I can head down to dinner.' She went to the bathroom to clean herself up, and saw that she had some computer chips in her hair. 'Wondered where they went.' She thought pulling them out of her hair and into her jacket pocket.  
By the door of the living room, Selene heard the two families talking.  
  
"I don't think that she should be staying her." Soun said. "She seems to be spending too much time with Ranma."  
"HEY! I'm just trying to be her friend!" Ranma shouted. "So what, if I want to spend more time with her than Akane." He threw his hand out, pointing at Akane. "At least I know that she won't try to mutilate me for being around other people!" Akane shot Ranma an evil look, and Ranma stuck out his tongue.  
"Fine, hang out with your little girlfriend." Akane said, crossing her arms and looking away from Ranma.  
"HEY! NO ONE EVER SAID THAT SHE WAS MY GIRLFRIEND!" Ranma shouted. "We're just really good friends."  
"Really, close friends if you ask me." Soun interjected.  
"Well, I'm not asking you." Ranma snapped. "Besides, my old man doesn't seem to care who I hang out with."  
"Actually Ranma..." Genma said, holding up a sign since he was still a panda. "I'm siding with Soun on this one." Genma quickly scribbled on a new sign and it said, "I think that she should move out." Ranma's mouth dropped open. "You're spending too much time with her, and you don't even know her." At that moment, Selene opened the door.  
"I'm sorry for all of you to think that way." Selene's voice was full of sorrow, and regret. "But, if you really want me to leave than I guess I can find a place of my own. Just give me a few days to find a place, and pack up...and then I'll be out of your hands."  
"No, no, no. That's not what they meant." Ranma said getting up, trying to soothe Selene. He could see tiny tears dropping to the floor. "Right you guys?" He was referring to Soun and Genma.  
"Ranma, it's alright." Selene said, wiping away her tears. "The facts are right there." She was pointing at the signs that were lying next to the panda. "If they really want me out, than so be it." She looked up at Soun. "I hope my father haunts your dreams, and since you aren't really willing to house me...all your debts are back." Soun's mouth dropped. "Didn't you read the bottom of the letter? It said that if you didn't fulfill this then, my daughter, Selene Evangelina Ira, could use up all of my debts." She pulled out the letter, and searched the bottom for a number. "You currently have 387, left out of 500. Geez, I wonder what my father did for you...better yet how many times." She began walking out of the room before Ranma firmly placed his hand on her shoulder.  
"Why are you leaving?" Ranma asked, a little agitated. "They didn't say that they wanted you to leave, now did they."  
'You know they did.' Selene stared at him. But somehow he knew that she was inside his mind, talking. 'Don't think that since you don't know all of my abilities that I can't do other things. I heard it all, and Soun really wants me gone.' "Now let go of me." she swatted his hand off her shoulder and walked out of the door.  
"Father! Now look at what you did." Kasumi said, getting up.  
"Yeah, dad. I mean just because you don't know her, doesn't mean that you can kick her out of this house. ESPECIALLY since you were the one that agreed to let her stay." Nabiki said, dropping her abacus and followed Kasumi.  
"They're right. Besides she's helping me get through that stupid English course." Akane said. Ranma didn't say anything thing, he just shot them an evil look and followed Akane.  
"Guess we lost that one, huh?" Soun said to panda Genma. The panda nodded back, quickly.  
  
The four found themselves in front of Selene's room. They heard shuffling of items, and a few scrapes. Kasumi knocked on the door, "Selene...can you open the door? It's us." The door slowly opened, and they saw Selene standing there. Her hands were in her jacket pockets, and she was standing in the middle of the doorway.  
"What?" Selene said raising her gaze from the floor to their faces.  
"We just wanna talk." Kasumi said. So, Selene gestured them inside. Nabiki, Kasumi, and Akane sat on her bed, Ranma sat in the extra chair near the window, and Selene sat on the chair in front of the computer.  
"So, what do you want to talk about?" Selene said turning around and started up a few programs on the computer. Dings and dongs came from the computer, and Ranma walked over to see what she was doing. 'AIM - AOL Instant Messenger.' She whispered through his mind. Ranma saw that she was talking to something, people he thought, and saw that he couldn't understand a single word of it. Giving up he sat back down in his seat.  
"I, we wanted to apologize for our father's rude behavior." Kasumi said. Akane and Nabiki nodded their heads and stared down at Selene's black bedspread.  
"I just want to apologize for the signs beside the panda and the fact that I didn't stand up for you." Ranma said next.  
"You guys don't have to do it." Selene said, popping in a CD. "I mean, you guys didn't do anything." Suddenly Evanescene's Whisper song comes blasting through the speakers. "To my knowledge, it was Soun and Ranma's father's, whoever that is, decision." She turned down the song when the lyrics reached 'no one's here and I fall into myself'. "It's no skin off my back, if they want me to move out." She shrugged her shoulders. "I mean, it's their fault that they brought out all of these debts. I mean for all I care, I could ask Soun to lend me 50,000 yen...and he most likely would have to give it to me."  
Soun and the panda, which were on the other side of the door, immediately knocked. Sighing Selene said, "Come in." Soun and the panda walked in. "What?"  
"I wanted to ask you if you would stay with us?" Soun was pleading.  
"Are you bringing this up because your daughters are asking me to stay, or is it because of what I can do with all 387 favors?" Selene asked, obviously annoyed.  
"The favors part." Soun murmured quietly. Selene rolled her eyes.  
"It's settled then." Akane said. "Selene will stay, and you..." She pointed at her father. "Cannot force her out of the house." 


	13. Chapter 13

Selene sat on the roof, staring at the full moon. She thought about how Ranma said that he didn't try to stick up for her more. "He stood up for me more than he knows...no one as ever done that for me. Especially when they find out what I can do." She whispered to herself, drawing her legs close to her body. She drew in a shaky breath and released it closing her eyes.  
Blood, a gun, a bullet, screams, and death ran before her eyes. Selene snapped open her eyes, and gasped. The gun and the leaving bullet still flashed through her mind, and Selene was still gasping for air, when she felt a tap on her shoulder.  
"Hey." Ranma said, and Selene jumped. "Didn't mean to scare you." He said when he noticed that her eyes had widened like a frightened fawn. "I still want to apologize for what I didn't do earlier."  
Selene gazed at him and he turned his face down and looked at the roof. "You don't have to." Her voice was sincere and Ranma looked up. "You don't know how much you defended me, even after knowing what I can do." She gazed up at the moon, and then down at Ranma's face. "Thank you." She managed to whisper it, through her pride. Never has she ever thought that she would have to put aside her pride for anything, and an apology nevertheless. Well, it's also the fact that she never had to apologize for anything in her life. They sat in silence for a while before Ranma said something.  
"Do you...umm...enter people's dreams?" Ranma asked a bit shy.  
"Well it depends," Selene said. "When people say my name with great emotion, I sometimes don't have a choice." She pointed at Ranma and said, "Like what you did last night. Though I don't know why you said my name. Or even how you knew that it would work that way."  
"I actually dreamt that you were a phoenix before I entered the other dream." Ranma said, facing down.  
"I was wondering, why I felt funny." Selene caught Ranma's puzzled look out of the corner of her eye. "I was awake when I felt as though I was missing something." She shrugged. "And then the feeling disappeared, and I went to sleep. That's when I entered your dream since you called me." She shook her head. "That's the bad part about me, I have to go to people when they're in danger." She stated. "Stupid pact." She said under her breath.  
"What?" Ranma asked confused. "Did you just say pact?"  
"Huh?" Selene said. 'I didn't think that he had that good hearing.' She thought to her self. "No, what makes you think I said pact?"  
"Nothing, never mind." Ranma said. "Look, do you mind teaching me English...I really suck at it. And if I don't get a passing grade in the subject then I'm gonna fail."  
"Yeah, sure. Tomorrow's Saturday right?" Selene asked, and Ranma nodded his head. "I'll start tomorrow." 


	14. Chapter 14

The next morning at breakfast, Ranma noticed that Selene was sitting by the pond outside. He recalled that she didn't eat breakfast, but he wondered what she was doing by the pond. He finished his breakfast quickly and walked over to Selene. Akane shot him an I-hope-your-happy-with-your- new-girlfriend look, but Ranma didn't care.  
He looked over Selene's shoulder and saw that she was sitting in front of a white candle. A CD player was next to her, and playing something. Selene's body swayed back and forth at a slow pace. He saw the flame on the candle slowly change colors to shades of blue. Her eyes were opened and it appeared as though she were in a trance. Her swaying stopped, but he saw that she was still in a trance like state, and the candle was still turning colors. It was first shades of blue, but slowly it changed to a violet, followed by lavender. But, Ranma blinked for a second and saw that the flame was pure white. This time he had to rub his eyes to see what was happening. He didn't believe that the flame was pure white, but he bent down to see and saw that the flame was now pure white. It slowly grew in size before a bucket of cold water was splashed onto him.  
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!?!?!?!" Ranma, now a female, screamed turning around. She saw Akane holding a bucket, which was filled with cold water a moment ago.  
"You should really quit drooling over the guest." Akane stated simply, turning back to go back into the home.  
"I WASN'T DROOLING! I WAS..." She turned back to Selene and the candle. The candle changed disappeared, and Selene was sitting there still. The music was now audible to Ranma, and she thought that the music was a bit strange. Ranma turned back around and saw that Akane wasn't anywhere near and gave up. "What were you doing?" Ranma asked. Selene didn't hear her, and Ranma poked Selene on her right shoulder repeatedly.  
"Huh?" Selene said, turning around. She pulled her headphones down, and looked at the girl that stood before her. "You're still Ranma right?" Selene asked, hopeful and puzzled. The girl nodded, and Selene sighed. "So what's up?"  
"Well, I did ask you a question first." Ranma replied.  
"Oh," Selene said trying to recall what she had asked her. "I was just meditating." The girl lifted her eyebrows in disbelief. "Well, it was a new way for me to meditate. Did the candle change colors?" Ranma nodded and Selene smiled. "So, I guess that it worked then."  
"What?" Ranma said leaning a bit closer before giving up and sitting down next to her.  
"Well the goal of it was to try to get the candle to change colors. The candle flame represents the stages of calmness you reached." Selene explained. "Or so I've heard. But, if you can get the flame to go white then you've reached the top level of calmness." Selene held her hands up, indicting that there was something she was going to add. "Personally, for me, whenever I can reach white it means that I have a lot of good magick that is going to be released. And when I release a lot of magick at once, it can be deadly." Selene looked off to the side.  
"What?" Ranma asked.  
"I've kinda killed a friend of mine, because he walked into a fight of mine." Selene looked off to the tree farthest to her left. "He thought that he could try to protect me, and tried to defend me against people. Though he didn't know that the people that I was battling with were forces of the dark. So, I obviously combated them with 'good magick'. But, when I was releasing the attack, he stood in front of me ready to strike." Selene breathed in deeply and exhaled. "The problem is...that when I release pure magick like that, there's no way I can stop it." She stood up, and walked back into the house. 


	15. Chapter 15

At lunch, Kasumi served sushi and calamari. "I thought that we could eat a light lunch today." She explained when Genma looked at her.  
"Oh, yeah. Selene do you mind helping me with English this afternoon?" Ranma asked with some calamari in his mouth, flapping around with every word he says. Selene nodded and didn't eat much.  
"Is there something wrong, Selene?" Kasumi asked worried.  
"No, it's nothing." Selene replied. "It's just that my stomach gets upset if I eat a lot of sea food." She picked up a few more pieces of sushi and then left.  
"Is there something wrong with her?" Kasumi asked Ranma.  
"Not to my knowledge." Ranma replied trying not to tell them what she had told him earlier that afternoon. The Tendos finished, and both of the Saotomes continued to eat until there was no food left. "Well, I'm going to study. See ya." He scurried upstairs and searched his room for his English stuff. "Dammit! Where is it!" He threw apart the entire room, and found his English book and notebook under all of the clothes he had worn earlier in the week. "Ok...I'm going to get those washed." He said turning away from the pile of clothes that smelled as bad you wouldn't know that it was a human's clothes.  
He walked towards Selene's room and knocked on the door. He could hear music blaring through the door. He knocked harder, and kicked the door to see if she heard it. The volume was immediately louder and Selene was opening the door. "Sorry. Didn't know that you wanted to start to study." She moved out of the way and ushered him into the room, "Come in." Ranma tentatively walked in, and glanced around for a place to sit. "If you want you can pull that chair from the window and place it near the desk or you can use the chair in front of the computer." Ranma walked over to the chair in front of the computer.  
He placed his English stuff in front of him and flipped through it. He found the unit they were working on, and asked for Selene to come over. She glanced at the page and lifted an eyebrow. "What does that say?" She pointed at an image that looked half English and half Japanese.  
"Beast." Ranma said.  
"Okay." She said turning to the side, trying hard not to laugh. "Why don't we start with words that we don't have to mix languages with." She asked him to write down the words that he had learned, onto a piece of paper. She sat down on her bed, and pulled out a black laptop from the dresser next to her bed. She was able to connect with it and surf the web for five minutes before Ranma said that he was done. His writing was a bit large and it took him two pages, front and back, for all the words he knew. She looked over them, and was shocked to see six words in a row. "Ranma." He looked at her and saw a confused/shocked expression on her face.  
"What? Is something wrong with what I wrote?"  
"Kinda. Where did you learn these curse words?" She pointed to the six words in a row.  
"Oh, do you mean hell, damn, fuck, bitch, ass, and shit?"  
"Yeah. Those are curses for your information." Selene informed him, and a slight smile crossed her face. "Anyway, besides those your vocabulary is quite good." She handed back the paper and asked him to bring over his English book along with the notebook.  
As he gathered the things, she saw that she had left her email open and someone had sent her mail. The sender name didn't look familiar, and the urge to open was beginning to build inside her. Ranma sat down on the bed when she clicked on the email, though Selene didn't seem to notice Ranma's presence on her bed.  
Ranma saw that Selene wasn't paying attention to him anymore, and was concentrated on the screen. He placed his English stuff on her bed and walked back over to the other end of the bed. Words were on the screen, and he couldn't understand it. He could under a few words here and there, but not enough to know anything.  
Selene read the message. It was just a friend who had gotten a new email address and wanted to tell her. She shrugged and noticed that Ranma was hanging over her shoulder. She flung her right hand in his face, and caused Ranma to jump back. She began to laugh at his display of awkwardness in the air, his arms were flailing around like a madman's and he didn't once think of moving a foot back for balance. Selene caught Ranma's right flailing arm and pulled him into an upright position.  
"What was that for?" Ranma said. Selene just shrugged at him, and pulled his English book to her side of the bed. She closed her laptop and moved over on the bed so he could sit on it. He glanced at the laptop, and then at Selene. He was wondering what was on the message that she had received.  
"A friend was just telling me some news." Selene said abruptly, and Ranma realized that she just read his mind. He shuddered at the thought of her peering into his mind when he didn't want to. He sat down next to Selene and looked into the book. She was leafing through the pages and then took to the grammar section of the book. "I think we'll start here." She pointed her finger on basic sentence structure. "Make up a sentence."  
"I ran." Ranma responded. Selene motioned for him to go on, with her right hand creating a circular motion. "I ran far?" He said questioning himself, but Selene just gave him the same motion. "I ran very far." Ranma was beginning to doubt Selene's method of teaching, but all she did was motion for him to continue. "I ran very far and I ran very hard."  
"Stop." Selene glanced up from the book, and at Ranma. She knew well enough that he gets nervous when someone looks in squarely in the face with an expression he couldn't read well. "The sentence you just said. 'I ran very far and I ran very hard.' You could just say, I ran very far and hard. It's shorter, easier, and the more commonly used form." Ranma nodded, and Selene flipped the page and looked it over. "Ok, how bout we work on some detailed sentences." She saw Ranma's confused expression on his face. "Like, I ran to the store to buy some milk."  
"What's store?" Ranma asked plainly confused.  
"A store is a place where you buy things." Ranma nodded and Selene wondered if he understood. She didn't want to pry into his mind, especially since he doesn't seem to like it much. "Why don't you try something like that?"  
"Umm...Akane is a macho chic despite how she looks." Ranma said, and there was a glint of laughter in his eyes.  
"I guess I should accept that, since it is detailed, I guess." Selene replied unsure. They stayed in her room for about an hour before Akane came barging in.  
"RRAANNNNMMMMAAAA!!!" Akane screamed with a blazing aura around her.  
"WHAT!?" Ranma yelled so Akane could hear. She stood, and pondered on what she was going to say. By the looks of what was happening Akane was angered about the fact that Ranma was on the bed learning English with her.  
"What do you want Akane?" Selene said, getting up from her bed. "I don't think there's anything wrong with teaching Ranma English, is there?"  
"Uh.no, I guess." Akane said, and stormed out of the room, muttering. 


	16. Chapter 16

Akane was blowing off steam in the training hall, punching and kicking in every direction. "It makes me sooo mad!" She said between punches. She jogged over to a corner and brought out a life size doll modeled after Ranma. She stationed it in the middle of the room and began to beat the life out of the doll. "AARRGGHH!!!" She screamed as she thought about Ranma being so close to Selene. "That.that.that.GIRL!!" She began to beat down on the doll again, and the doll was looking a bit pathetic now. It's arms were sagging, its legs were barely attached, the torso had holes and straw sticking out all over the place, and its head.well, the head was more or less still part of the body. It was mutilated and it was at the feet of the doll. Panting she stopped and looked at the doll.  
It no longer resembled a doll at all. A lot of the cloth was torn and straw was visible no matter what angle you looked at it. But Akane still pounded the stuffing out of it. Though Unbeknownst to her, Selene and Ranma silently stood in the doorway. Ranma winced at every punch that caused the dummy to lose an appendage or some of its insides. And he knew quite well that it was him who it was representing. "I'm dead, huh?" He whispered to Selene and she nodded, not even looking in his direction. Ranma sighed and walked away from the Dojo. Though as he walked away Akane kicked the head off of the doll.  
When Akane was done maiming the doll Selene walked up towards her. She picked up the head of the doll and placed it back on the stand. "Look, Akane." Selene said before Akane cut her off.  
"What?" She bit back violently. "Do you have anything else to say or steal?!?!"  
Sighing Selene looked up at Akane. "I never met to steal anything from you, but yes, I do have something to say." She noticed the glaring daggers in Akane's look and decided to make her words quick. "I never meant for anything to happen like this ok? I'm just Ranma's friends and I know that you're one of his fiancées." She saw the daggers in Akane's look dull down to just about nothing. "But there is absolutely nothing and I repeat NOTHING going on between us."  
"And what makes you think that I suspect that?" She said with a little attitude in her voice.  
"The doll would be one and the fact that you called me, and I quote 'That.that.that.GIRL!' with a lot of venom in your voice." Selene stated plainly, and saw Akane blush a little. "Look, Kasumi asked me to tell you that dinner is done. If you wish to eat I suggest you go before Ranma and Mr. Saotome eat all it." With that Selene turned around and left the training hall.  
"I can't listen to nutcases like her and Ranma anymore. Shampoo and Ukyo go into the category too." Akane said and sighed. She lifted the doll up and placed it back in the corner in which she had found it and walked back into the main house. Everyone was gathered around the table and eating noodles. A place was set for Akane and she sat down in front of Ranma. Selene sat next to Kasumi and Mr. Saotome and ate slowly. She was the only one besides Akane who had the bowl practically full.  
"Selene." Genma said between mouthfuls. "You really ought to eat something. It helps your body and strength you know."  
"Yes, Mr. Saotome I know." Selene replied lifting some noodles on her chopsticks and then placing it back down in the bowl.  
"Call me Genma." He said and Selene barely acknowledged him. "Are you going to eat that?" He asked and she shook her head. He placed his empty bowl of noodles on the table and took Selene's.  
"Hey!" Ranma called out. "I wanted those!"  
"Ranma, there are more here." Kasumi said gesturing towards the pot next to her full of noodles. "And Mr. Saotome," Kasumi turned to him. "You don't have to take Selene's dinner. Do you want any Selene?" Selene shook her head and then look up at everyone.  
"Um.I'm going to be anyway for the week or so." She informed them. "I need to do some things in America and I need to do them soon." She said and then continued when everyone stopped eating. "I'm leaving tomorrow."  
"What?!" Ranma and Akane said at once.  
"You're leaving?" Nabiki said and then added. "Can you bring me back a gift?" Then she pulled out a piece of paper from behind her back. "Here are some things you can choose from." Selene stared at her dumbfounded.  
"Uhh, I guess I could." Selene said a bit unsure of what she was doing. Then Soun took the list and wrote two things on it.  
"Can you get me those two things?" He asked kindly, and sounded almost as though he were pleading with her. The list went around the table and everyone wrote something they wanted onto it.  
"I highly doubt I'll have the time to get anything though." Selene stated.  
"But you have to. Its only polite." Genma said but Selene looked at him as though she might murder him if he spoke anymore about 'politeness'.  
"Anyway, I'm leaving at 10:45 and have an 11o'clock flight tomorrow." Selene said ignoring Genma telling her to get the gifts. "You know what Genma?"  
"What?" He asked. She stood up and grabbed a bucket and walked down to the pond and scooped up some of it. She walked swiftly back to him and dumped the water over his head.  
"That." Selene said satisfied. Genma, now a panda, lifted a sign that said 'What was that for?' "A lot of things Genma." Selene replied and threw the bucket outside. "I'm going to sleep." She got up and began to walk up the stairs when she hollered. "The school knows that I'm going to be out for a month so don't worry about that." Then they heard a door shut and every at the table looked at one another. 


	17. Chapter 17

The next day everyone was at the airport seeing Selene off. "You guys didn't have to come and see me off, you know." She said and Ranma spoke up.  
"You're our friend what are you talking about?" Selene raised her left eyebrow and Ranma shut his mouth before he went on. Already Akane was getting antsy, she really didn't want to stay near Selene much longer.  
"Akane, one month." Selene knew that was what she wanted to hear so she decided to be nice. "I'm not here for one month, be happy." Akane stopped fidgeting so much and looked start at Selene. "Maybe by then Ranma will remember you and the fact that you're his fiancée." She whispered to Akane as her flight number was being called. "I'll try to get you guys some gifts alright?" Nabiki smiled and Selene began to wonder what in the world Nabiki had asked for. But she knew that it was most likely one of the most expensive things that Selene will ever buy in her life.  
"See ya! Remember what you just said!" Nabiki said a bit too sweetly.  
"Come back safely." Kasumi called out in a serene voice.  
"Yea, have a good time, and bring me back something!" Ranma said with a giant grin, and Akane punched his arm. "What was that for?" She made a grunt and waved goodbye.  
"See ya!" Selene said at the gate and handed her ticket to the attendant. The two families stood there as the door closed and watched the plane take off. Selene looked through the window on the plane and tried to find them but couldn't. Sighing she leaned back in her seat, buckled, and then slept.  
  
"It's amazing," Soun said. "She's gone!" A giant grin formed on his face and he and Genma began to dance around the living room. "I won't have those favors to forfill now!"  
"Father." Kasumi scolded lightly. "You shouldn't say things like that. If her father did anything for you that many times then you should at least pay him back." Kasumi said as she walked to the kitchen. Soun and Genma both dropped their heads and Kasumi walked to the kitchen to make lunch.  
"Hey. I think we should go to the park and have a picnic next weekend." Nabiki said flipping through a manga entitled 'Ayashi no Ceres'. (I love that series!) "Selene isn't here but I don't she would mind if we did."  
Kasumi who was walking back from the kitchen with a pot filled with last night's dinner smiled. "That's a really nice idea Nabiki."  
"Yeah. What made you think of that Nabiki?" Akane asked sitting down at the table. Ranma, who was outside and a female, came charging into the room.  
"LUNCH!" She sat down and immediately began to eat. Akane smacked Ranma across the head for her behavior. "What?!" She said with noodles hanging from her mouth.  
Akane shook her head and replied. "What do you say about going to the park with us next weekend and having a picnic?" Ranma shrugged and Akane sighed. "Can't you at least reply?" But Ranma remained silent and continued to eat.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Meanwhile back in America, Selene got off the plane. She took a taxi to her old home and walked in. Familiar images of her old life flooded her mind, she dropped the bag she had in her hand onto the floor, and walked to the kitchen. 'Kasumi most likely is making lunch for everyone else back home.' Selene thought. She knew that there was nothing edible in the fridge; actually she knew that there was no food in the house but she still stood in the kitchen. Her mother was no longer here, and Selene sighed. (Her mother died a long time ago.) She walked back to the foyer and picked up her bag. She climbed the staircase to her room and laid down on her bed in the attic. It was cool and she did nothing to warm herself. 'Tomorrow, I'll have to begin to sell this house.' She thought. 'Then I'll take the money and go back to Japan, though I'll change it into the Japanese currency first.' She closed her eyes and a final thought came to her before she slept. 'I also have to sort through everything that I don't need.'  
Sleep overcame her and she dreamt of her life before she began to take up martial arts. Before both her parents left her alone in this world, before everything became strange. 


	18. Chapter 18

The weekend had come, and they had received one telephone call from Selene saying that she was staying in the US for another week. She still hadn't finished any of her business. Nabiki had said something about a boyfriend but got a very loud, very long telephone lecture from Selene, and then a small talk with Kasumi about gossiping like that. Ranma had been the last one to talk to her and the only one who told her about the picnic they were having. She had told them to have fun and for them to forget about her till she came back. Though before Ranma and Selene hung up Ranma told her about the dream he had weeks ago.  
  
****Flashback to the telephone call****  
  
"Selene," Ranma said worried.  
"Ranma, if Akane really dies then we'll deal with it later." Selene replied.  
"But I really don't want her to die. Despite how much she thinks I hate her I really don't." Ranma admitted though not without a few moments of trying.  
"Ranma, honestly. You should tell her about your feelings. Then maybe Genma and Soun can bump up the wedding."  
"SELENE!" Ranma shouted and caused Akane to pop her head into the room. She left when nothing interesting happened on his end of the conversation since Selene was talking.  
"Though Ranma here, listen. If your dream was actually a premonition then try to convince them to not go. Or at least not go to the park, whatever you decide." Selene paused for a moment and Ranma strained his hearing. He thought that she had said something since there was a slight noise on her end. "Anyway Ranma before I go, just remember you can prevent this or you can allow it to happen. I don't know whether or not it was a premonition because I wasn't the one who had it."  
"Yeah.ok.I'll see what I can do about it."  
"Oh, Ranma. I bet your dream wasn't much just don't worry about it."  
"Sure. Bye."  
"Bye." Ranma hung up and walked back into the living room.  
  
****End telephone call flashback****  
  
-I'm not going to try to stop them. Like Selene said it's probably nothing.- Ranma thought as he sat on the roof. Kasumi was downstairs making lunches and snacks for them on their picnic. Nabiki was looking for clothes as was Akane, and both Genma and Soun were playing Chinese chess against each other. (I don't know what they play or what its called, sorry)  
When Kasumi called Ranma, he jumped down from the roof. It was time that they left and Ranma helped Kasumi carry the three large containers of food. Ranma's mouth was already beginning to water since he could smell pork buns within the container in his right hand. "Kasumi would you mind if I ate one bun right now?"  
"Ranma, you really should wait until we reach the park." Ranma sighed and left the container unopened. He really wanted to eat the pork buns right now but he would save it until later. 


End file.
